pumpkin products

The following recipes I used "home pureed" pumpkin. All in all, the pumpkin puree tasted, to me, just like the normal canned stuff though it's appearance was a lighter orange.

#1. I tried this Pumpkin Rice Pudding at the 4th annual "Peter Pumpkin Open House" (might post on that subject later...), liked it, and thought I'd try it at home. Made it. Undercooked the rice (I think because I used brown instead of white and didn't allow for that change while cooking it) and might just have undercooked the whole shebang.
Here it is:
this is cooked. it doesn't look too cooked now, does it?

The pumpkin flavor was good but the dish was not so hot all around.

#2. I stink at making pancakes. It doesn't seem to difficult... but somehow they never really turn out well. Peter is the pancake expert at our house. For some reason this doesn't deter me from trying to make them. These were supposed to be pumpkin pancakes.
hmm, not looking so good.

these are pumpkin pancakes "mid-trash"I can make waffles.
I decided to try to salvage the batter and stick it in the waffle iron.

I knew I liked waffle irons.
These were tasty although I preferred them "cold". probably because while warm they reminded me of the gummy pancakes I had just tasted.

#3. Sweet Success! Whole wheat pumpkin bread. No oil, just applesauce. delicious. Made 4 loaves so far and my last 2 cups of pumpkin puree will likely be dedicated to 2 more.

here is the recipe, it's a winner:

WW Pumpkin Bread

3 c. brown sugar
4 eggs
2 c. pumpkin
1 c. applesauce
4 1/2 c. whole-wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. nuts, chopped (optional)

Cream together brown sugar and eggs. Add pumpkin and applesauce and beat well. Add remaining ingredients and beat well. Pour into two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Makes 2 loaves.

#4. Pumpkin Spice Latte in a crockpot.
No picture but it was good. Made it for a church small group Halloween party. I didn't use all the vanilla that was called for in the recipe (that is a ton!) but put in a whole (smallish) bottle of it when I roughly x4 or x5'd the recipe (so still quite a bit). One thing, I would have pureed my pumpkin a little more had I thought about the possibility of swallowing little pumpkin chunks every once in a while. (= still good, still good.

pumpkin season here we come

Unbaked 100% whole grain pumpkin cornbread with pepitas

Here it is baked
Here we have an unbaked pumpkin scone "log"
Here it is cut...

...and baked!

One thing that makes cold(er) weather a little more bearable is people's tendency to break out the pumpkin recipes - here we have two

Pumpkin is not the only positive ingredient in these baked goods - both were made with 100% genuine whole grains (King Arthur's White Whole Wheat and Bob's Red Mill Cornmeal)

The cornbread has a really good taste. A little dry (all the "liquid" in it is pumpkin!), yes, but a really good taste. For those who enjoy putting butter on their cornbread anyways
(and who doesn't) this cornbread would be just the thing.
The consistency while making it was pretty weird - I pretty much ended up "kneading" it by hand to mix in the pepitas and never had a chance to follow the directions, "Pour into pan". My method was more like, "Pick up orange dough ball and smoosh into prepared pan" -
whatever works.

I only tasted a bit of the scone (these are for a pumpkin event in a few days) but the bit I did taste was really great (and they don't even have icing on them yet - not that they are at all lacking in another less-than-nutritionally-desirable substance: butter).

I found these recipes here (changed the recipe to white whole wheat flour and 100% whole grain cornmeal) and here (changed the recipe to white whole wheat flour)

Amazingly easy, uncommonly healthy (especially for scones)

that's pumpkin for you